Forever and Always
by Nomanisan Island
Summary: ...Then the falling snow bless the winter season long...The seasons change, but your tenshi says, 'you will be with me, forever and always.' So Rin...could you love me? Oneshot, Rin x Sessho, bittersweet ending


**Foreword**

**It just came to me one day like a strange awakening, you know? I usually haven't minded Rin+Sesshomaru pairings. Hell, I actually made a Rin+Sessho romance in my story 'Hiphop through life.' That is, until I came to a realization that this was…not right. Sessho isn't Rin's father, just a paternal figure in her life. So realistically, even if Rin sees him more than a father figure, Sesshomaru should at least have control over his lust and restrain his desires like the true taiyoukai he is. Because if he cared about Rin; even a tiny bit; he wouldn't agree to mate her knowing it was a wrong thing to do.**

**Now don't get me wrong, I'm still okay with the pairing and the romance between the two is still on in my other story. I'm just writing this for a…change of perspective. **

**Plus I've changed my name to 'willowdrop.' I just felt like a change. I made a deviantart profile, and WHEN I get a scanner I'll start uploading some art. Moreover, my favourite tree is the willow, so that just makes sense. Enjoy.**

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

_**'Let the buds of spring arise from the surface of the bark,'**_

_**'Hear the young cicada sing its early song,'**_

_**'Leaves of yellow, leaves of brown scattering the earth,'**_

_**'Then the falling snow bless the winter season long,'**_

_**'The seasons change, but your tenshi says,'**_

_**'You will be with me'**_

_**'Forever, and always'**_

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

She reluctantly dipped her delicate hand into the water to see if it was cold enough before deciding that she would cool her feet in its midst. As the sun mercilessly beat down upon her (as it was a hot summer's day), Rin wiped away the sweat on her forehead with the grey sleeve of her garments and splashed ice cold water onto her face.

Nearby, Jaken was standing watch over her, burning holes in her back with his stare. He was determined to keep an eye out for her this time, unlike last time when he had found a particularly delectable newt crawling in the grass and allowed the girl to run off with some demon in disguise as the slayer boy Kohaku. Of course, as always, his Lord had immediately followed and did what he did best; tore the creature asunder with his claws and rescued the girl. He in turn received a stone against the head.

'I thought once she came of age she'd know by now not to get herself in trouble…' Jaken thought to himself. 'Maybe I was wrong. It has been eighteen seasons that girl has seen and yet she can't seem to avoid trouble…'

"Ah, Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken sensed the aura of his demon Lord and turned to see him walking towards them. He prodded Rin with his staff of heads and the vivacious girl quickly sprang from the brook and groveled before her Lord's feet.

"Get up." Sesshomaru commanded. She obeyed at once, trying hard not to meet his gaze. He then turned to Jaken and said, "The cliff up ahead is too high for Rin to climb." He motioned for his Siamese twin dragons to come hither. "So you will assist her with Ah and Un."

"Yes my Lord." Jaken bowed and beckoned Rin to Ah and Un, who were patiently waiting, scales shining against the sun. Rin sat with Lord Jaken sitting behind her, and she bucked slightly as the creature tumbled into the sky.

The hot noon sun was more intense up above, but the western winds that whipped her deep charcoal tresses served as sweet refreshment from the entire bustle below. Rin looked down and observed the homes, fields, oxen and people that were now tiny as ants and beetles. With a swoop of the dragon creature's tail, the villages disappeared into the horizon and instead Rin was treated to a beautiful view of lush forests and endless chains of mountains. At once she sighed with relief, for she knew she would never have made it over these incredible heights. Then she looked ahead and saw Lord Sesshomaru.

All she could see was his back, but his back alone was a wonderful sight. His silky locks of silver fanned out behind him like a velvety veil in the winds, accentuating his colourful attire he wore. The two great demon swords clanged against each other once in awhile, disrupting the buzz of the quietness above. His great fur flew behind him as if tickling the air, and Rin, once again, felt her heart sink as it always seemed to do.

"Master Jaken?" she asked.

"Yes, Rin?"

"Sometimes I wonder…if I should be wed by now." She remarked, unsure of herself. "I have lived for eighteen seasons and other girls my age are with three, four, or even five children. And I am here…"

"With Lord Sesshomaru, Ruler of the Western Lands." Jaken interrupted. "You know how those girls live, young one? Humans are a wretched species, my child."

"But why?" Rin's ears perked up, eager to hear the aged sage-like demon's words.

"In the human world, you must marry whomever your guardians pick. The man may be aged and old, poor or rich, handsome or ugly, kind or stingy, sober or a complete drunken fool. And you must keep having his children until you bear him a son! Oh, life of the average ningen may appeal to you, Rin, but beneath the sugarcoated lies lived unhappiness and a lifetime of emptiness."

"But…master, what of those two humans that travel with Inuyasha?"

"They are a few that do have a say in whom they wish to marry." Jaken sighed. "Miroku and Sango, as wretched as their lives may be, what with that curse on him and the killing in her village, they…" at this point Jaken strained at the words; "…love each other."

"Love each other?"

"Precisely." Jaken waited before changing the subject. "You remember steward Otaku, don't you? He is coming to greet us at Lord Sesshomaru's estate. He supposedly served Lord Sesshomaru's family for 25 generations…many aeons have passed since he was born and they say he still bears his youth, and…"

Rin said no more, fully sure that she would never have a life like Sango, and grateful to be under Lord Sesshomaru's wing.

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

That night Rin set foot inside the Palace of the Western Lands for the fourth time. The first and third was for when she came for her new clothes, for she had outgrown them. The grey-silver one she wore, Sesshomaru had commented, went well with her pale complexion; and Rin was happy that he had handpicked it himself. The second was when, surprisingly, Sesshomaru's mother had decided to pay her vigorous son a visit. The Great Lady had astounding beauty that she retained with her voice singing like a flute, and she wondered whether Lord Sesshomaru had gotten his divine features from his mother or his deceased father. But she knew better than to ask.

The Palace was just like Lord Sesshomaru; standing tall, elegant, and distant. As Ah and Un flew ahead after setting her and Jaken down, Sesshomaru rapped on the gates firmly with his knuckles. A shifting noise came from the gate.

"Aye, who goes there?" a young man's voice rang out, and Rin assumed this was Otaku.

"It is I, steward Otaku." Sesshomaru said. "I'm back from my trek."

At once the gates flew open and half a dozen elfish looking women held glowing purple lanterns, led by the steward himself. He knelt down before Sesshomaru, and Rin marveled at how young he looked, for this was her first time beholding the infamous steward. He looked no younger than her Lord yet he was aged by the centuries. His wise eyes were the light purple colour of the lanterns, his pale face allowing them to stand out. Wearing flowing brown robes like that of Jaken's, he had perfect auburn hair falling to his waist that was tied down. She found it strange that he also had the crescent moon burned onto his forehead, but decided to question later.

"Go show this girl her chambers." Sesshomaru said as he removed his fur.

When she later saw him, he was lounging in the well trimmed garden, expertly handling a great monarch fluttering on his slim wrist. He was clad in robes of golden yellow, the colour of the royals. It looked similar to the garments that Inuyasha always wore except the shade was different. His fur was resting on his shoulder as always, and Rin longed to stay by his side and to speak to him.

"Lord?" Rin coyly called out. Sesshomaru eyed her and allowed the insect to take flight. She took advantage of this and drank in his gold-clad form, from the moonlight coloured tresses of his to his glowering golden eyes, his delicate slanted nose to his thin pouting lips. What a feeling it would be to claim those pale pink petals to herself-

'What am I pondering?' Rin mentally slapped herself and smiled shyly as Sesshomaru turned to her. As her Lord smiled as if he knew everything, Rin felt her face heat up like fire.

"Yes, Rin?" Sesshomaru finally said. "You should be sleeping, girl."

"Yes, I know. I just wished to speak to you."

"Go ahead." Sesshomaru indicated that he was paying attention while inspecting his Myrtles. "I'm listening."

"Sesshomaru, my Lord, it has been eighteen seasons I've lived…and…"

"You worry wether if you should be married by now." To Rin's astonishment her liege had finished her sentence. "Don't look at me like that, girl. You should know that I have very acute hearing." Sesshomaru had a particularly well blossomed pinkish myrtle in his hand and he turned to face the blushing girl.

"I…" Rin choked out. "…am not a girl."

"Oh?" Sesshomaru exclaimed with a hint of amusement. "Then, young one, what may you be?"

"A woman." She said bravely, her head held high. Sesshomaru twirled the blossom in his fingers briefly before placing it in the girl; no, woman's hair. He gave her the soft paternal look she had always cherished and brushed her locks back gently with his claws.

"Then that is what you shall be…woman." He smiled serenely before calling for Otaku to bring Rin back to her chambers.

"Otaku?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Bring the woman back to her chambers." He said. "And come back, for I have matters to discuss with you."

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

"Otaku." Sesshomaru said. The steward went to his side at once, awaiting a command. The great Demon Lords had all confided in him secrets of their hearts, and he still remembered everything that was told to him as if it were yesterday. Now it was the young master's turn.

"I may be needing an heir." Sesshomaru said quietly almost as if someone were eavesdropping. "And I need you to aid me in finding a suitable wife."

"I see, my Lord." Otaku raised his eyes to the heavens. "How peculiar that you do not take an interest in the daughter of the Lord of the Southern Kingdom...after all, your father did want to give her a chance."

"I do not take interest in bawdy females, Otaku." Sesshomaru spoke. "You know better of me, now don't you?"

"My Lord, I do have someone in mind that you may be wanting as a consort...I dare not speak of it."

"And why not, steward?" by this time the young lord's curiosity triggered, but he successfully hid his emotions well. Otaku shifted a bit closer to his lord but said nothing. Both looked into each other's eyes as if interlocked in a staring contest until Otaku looked up into the dark heavens blessed with its scatterings of shining stars.

"Your forefathers, my liege, would be very upset with you if you were to take in a ningen female as your mate...as would I."

Almost simultaneously as Otaku finished his saying of thoughts, Sesshomaru had unsheathed his sharp-edged Toukijin and held the old steward at his mercy. Otaku did not batter an eyelash; he merely eyed the young demon lord with question and sternness. A cricket silently sang its symphony as the six elf-maids trembled, not knowing whether they should plead Lord Sesshomaru for mercy or allow the cold liege to spill the age-old youthful steward's blood on the grass.

"My liege..." Otaku said. "I speak the truth. You can never slay me because you know I am right."

"Speak...another...word." Sesshomaru grazed his neck with the blade as he threateningly scowled. "I have deep feelings for Rin. I wish to take her the way she should...not as my child figure, but as a fully grown female...ningen."

"Your forefathers-"

"Do NOT speak to me about my forefathers!" Sesshomaru glowered as the image of his once great father came into mind, now rotting away into dust and ashes behind the eye of his pathetic half blood mongrel of a brother. Otaku decided to speak again, as if he had read Sesshomaru's mind.

"The late Lord of the Western Lands, my Lord...do you know when he was considered the greatest? When your mother was with him. She was able to defend and fight for herself, thus had more time and the leisure to rule side to side with him. One the other hand..." Otaku smirked and sneered; "...your ningen stepmother did nothing. She could not fight. She could not rule. She did not even try to get used to the great estate that your father had owned. It wasn't used to her delicate ningen lifestyle. Look at what that did to your father, my liege. He now stands in the border of the cosmos, decaying in a grave unworthy of his prescence; thanks to that **despicable female**." he spat venom at the last two words. Sesshomaru glared daggers at Otaku before sheathing his blade.

"Rin is different." Sesshomaru spoke. "The decade long trek that I have gone on was always accompanied by her, and not once has she complained. She has always complied to my word and has always been obedient. Rin eats anything that she can from mushrooms to tree barks, is able to be accustomed to rain or shine. I must say...she won't be the same disgraceful kind as my father's wife was."

"My Lord..."

"You have my grant to leave me in peace."

"Yes, my Lord." Otaku fell obedient as always. As the group of elf-maids ushered him away, he muttered under his breath a few words loud enough for the young lord to hear;

"A female ningen...will always be a female ningen."

Sesshomaru admitted one thing, however. Otaku was right; he couldn't kill him because he knew he was right. Everything the damn steward had said was gospel truth. And he hated that.

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

It was early dawn, and Rin could already smell the musky, misty scent of the hot springs as she headed to the bathing spring near the crook of the valley with two elf-maids assissting her. She quickly stripped and got into the water, the cold sting on her skin replaced by a heated warmth of comfort. The elf-maids washed her hair with the oils that Rin had given them to use on her. They smelled of pines and the sweet earth; refreshing and intoxicating. After all, she wanted to look her best for her Lord if not in the wild then at least in his home. She hesitantly reached up for her bosom and fondled her shapely and humble assets, wondering whether Lord Sesshomaru; if he even had the slightest attraction to her; would approve of them.

After she dried off she changed into the lavender robes that had been brought out for her. She headed back cheerfully to the great estate where she would then have her breakfast and a morning chat with Lord Sesshomaru. She did not notice Otaku sitting up a tree watching her leave. He silently smiled to himself before jumping ahead to the palace walls.

"Lord Sesshomaru, you look awfully unrested." Rin commented , refering to the pink tinge in his eyes of gold. He said nothing, thereby obligating Rin to say no more. She attempted to cheer up the conversation with talks of the beautiful trees that graced the palace gates and words of thanks about her room. Still Sesshomaru, much to the girl's dismay, said nothing. He merely munched away on his food of...delicious looking reptiles and creatures with a drink that smelled of sweet honey.

He wished to tell her how he felt for her, and he felt tonight was the perfect night. 'Yes, tonight will be it.'

As if it were a fixed coincidence of events, Rin thought the same thing. That night would be the night.

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

Jaken lingered around the estate garden, marveling at Lord Sesshomaru's good botanical tastes. As he set his bulging toad-like eyes upon a delicate flower in bloom, he felt a few leaves settle upon his head. He looked up and saw Otaku perched on a thick branch of the willow tree, looking down at him.

"Steward, get down there!" Jaken flustered himself. "Lord Sesshomaru will be very cross if he finds that you…"

"The well being of a tree should be the least of the young Lord's problems, master Jaken." Otaku gracefully set foot upon the ground and smiled mysteriously. "Master Jaken, what do you think about lady Rin?"

"Oh, Rin is an exceptional girl that Lord Sesshomaru holds quite dear." Jaken smiled a bit. "I'm sure my Lord has told you all about her, I suppose?"

"Yes…" Otaku said. "…too much for my liking."

Sputtering, Jaken croaked and prodded the steward's thigh with his staff of heads quite hard. "You…steward Otaku, please watch what you say! I will not tolerate you muttering such obscenities!"

"Then how about this, master? Lord Sesshomaru is planning to woo lady Rin. Can you accept that?"

"Well…of course, I see no reason why I should not follow my master's decisions." Jaken spoke with a hint of disapproval in his tone, which the steward caught ahold of immediately. "If he wishes to take the young one as his bride, I will not oppose."

Otaku sneered a bit before looking up at the willow branches. "I half expected that talk from you. I shouldn't have asked; what more could the former tribe leader of a bunch of swamp toad demons have thought up of…?"

Jaken's green scaled skin turned an astonishingly scarlet hue of red as he croaked and sputtered. He was looking for words to speak but could find none, only foaming a bit by the corner of his mouth.

"Let me tell you something about myself." Otaku said, squatting on his heels to face the livid toad demon at eye level. "See this crescent?" he said. "This is not a marking. This is a seared glyph. When I was sold into slavery they burned this mark on me when I was sold to this palace. I started out serving this family 25 generations ago as a lowly servant until the day I proved myself useful."

"And what was that?"

Otaku tossed that question aside. "That is not important. What is important is that I have served in this family for a long, long time…and apparently, the pedigree of the Lords of the Western Lands is the most refined."

"I suppose Inuyasha is not on there?"

"No." he spat on the ground upon hearing the name. "The late Lord conceived only two children, Lord Sesshomaru and Inuyasha. Lord Sesshomaru must have a demon child to continue the bloodline of this great family, and I will not see a dingy ningen destroy our young Lord like the deceased one in his grave!"

"You are NOT the only person concerned of Lord Sesshomaru's well-being, you impudent man!" Jaken exploded as Otaku cooly walked away. The toad demon slumped in his tracks and leaned on his sturdy staff for support and confronted his conscience. The girl had grown into a fine young woman, true. But hadn't she thought of Lord Sesshomaru as a mere father figure, not someone she would think of romancing? And as for Lord Sesshomaru...could he handle dealing with wooing and marrying the ningen girl he had willingly saved when she was a child of eight years? Deciding to have a chat with the Lord after his afternoon meal, he waddled away to the main room.

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken tapped on the frame of the sliding door and waited for a response. There was no response, as he had expected. So Jaken hesitantly slid the door open and to his surprise, found his Lord confronting his wardrobe, which was a chore usually left for the elf-maids to do. Sensing his follower's prescence, Sesshomaru turned around to face a cowering Jaken.

"Upon knocking, if there be no response, you do not enter my chambers. I thought you knew better, Jaken." Sesshomaru turned his gaze back to his garments as Jaken bowed lower. The toad demon eyed his Lord with great nervousness, watching his pick out a set of dark blue and purple robes, which Jaken found to be very similar with the ones that Naraku always wore. He raised an inquiring finger to inform his Lord, but once he saw him changing into them he decided to inquire no more and instead stood awkwardly by his floor mattress.

"M'Lord, I've come to...ask you something." Jaken inquired. "I have done a lot of thinking..."

"What is it?"

"It's about Rin, my Lord..." at Jaken's words Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow and took a seat at his place. "Go on." he said.

"I have been hearing...from someone that you wish to woo Rin." Jaken looked up slightly and dropped his head as soon as he met Sesshomaru's piercing, demanding look but amazingly found the courage to continue. "And I have done much thinking myself, and I...supposed that...you should ponder about what I must have to say. My Lord, you've raised Rin much so like a father, and she probably thinks of you as her father...no one knows whether she will return your feelings..."

A china vase flew across the wall, shattering it into numerous pieces. Fragments of jade with lacquerings gracing its surface slid against each other, clinking, making chinking noises throughout the room. Jaken had his forehead almost digging into the floor, his wimpering state begging for mercy. Sesshomaru stood up angrily, throwing open the door to the garden, letting in a whirl of fresh earthy scents. His breathing was coming in gasps, and he breathed in geneous amounts of air while Jaken cowered still behind him.

"Lord Sesshomaru, I did not mean to provoke you at..."

"Get out."

"Pardon me, my Lord?" a surprised Jaken lifted his head up. Sesshomaru ignored him and stepped out into the garden barefoot after slamming the door behind him.

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

'On one side I have an aged, old, wretched steward saturated in tradition...and on the other side I have an ingrated weevil emphasizing that it may never work! How dare they!' Even the serenity of his garden couldn't bring Sesshomaru down from his seething anger. He wished to behold Rin before him at that moment, but he knew better than to call her himself. It wouldn't be right, somehow. Instead he bit his lower lip until he tasted blood and attempted to tame his urges and sinful thoughts. He seethed because now he knew that both his subjects were right in what they had said. Yes, he would have listened to them ten years ago...But now it was more than different. Sesshomaru admitted that being with the girl had changed his view on humans and how he beheld them...not that it made his half-blood brother shine through the dirt any more than he did.

While the Lord of the Western Lands contemplated these tangled thoughts, Rin stood not far away, adorning herself in a mirror. She found it to be a hard task the hard way. She had dismissed all of the elf-maids who had volunteered to help her, and at last she caved and sent them in to do her hair and makeup. Rin picked out a fluttery pale pink gown, but after much thought she decided to face Lord Sesshomaru in the grey garments that he had presented her with. After all, the hair and makeup seemed overdone enough. Her heart drummed in her ribs so hard Rin felt they might have snapped under the pressure. But she endured it, somehow, with the thought that tonight was judgement day for her. 'Many years I've pined for the warmth of his embrace...not out of paternal love, but out of...love.' she thought. 'Just plain love.'

Night came quicker than they both expected, and until the great moon held its place in the midst of the star-studded sky, neither had said a word.

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

Rin sat in the corner of the dark, lightless room and watched the raindrops fall onto the garden. The ripples of the pond, the warmth of the wind, and the twirling leaves and petals all seemed to call out to her to go to Lord Sesshomaru and do as she had pensed all the while, but Rin shut out the sounds and instead buried her face in her hands. Her stomach did a double flip as she heard a clear knock at her door.

"Who...who goes there?" Rin quickly stood up and took a step back. The door opened, and she breathed out of semi-relief and disappointment to see the youthful steward standing in the doorway, his hanging hair framing his face like a set of thick, velvety curtains. Otaku eyed her nervousness, and to Rin his emotionless face wasn't helping at all. She somewhat sensed his uncomfortableness and the icy glare in his glowing orbs made her spine tingle and chill.

"Yes?" Rin asked carefully. "Is something the matter?"

"Lord Sesshomaru sent for you, lady Rin." Otaku's surprisingly throaty voice piecred Rin's ears, and his graceful voice now coming in chopped forceful tones made her even more tongue-tied than ever. Had she done something wrong? She thought over her actions of the past days but became flustered when she couldn't recall anything wrong she had done, and the steward moved away from the door, gesturing for her to hurry up. Rin reluctantly followed him, going through the long hallway, out into the main garden, and at last they had reached Lord Sesshomaru's chambers. The steward opened the door for Rin. Once she stepped inside, he signalled his elf-maids to follow him to the courthouse, his face twisted in disgust.

'There will be a storm tonight.' Otaku thought to himself.

"So." someone said as he set foot in the courthouse. "What happened?"

"Go find out for yourself, toad demon." Otaku raised a hand and the elf-maids disapparated out of sight. Jaken waddled up to the steward and sighed.

"I guess Lord Sesshomaru has not heard our words to him." Jaken sighed heavily.

Otaku looked up at the sky. "Perhaps...we cannot help him...and it is up to the young Lord to make the wise decision."

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

"Come hither." Rin obeyed Sesshomaru's command instantly, kneeling before his futon. He sat with one arm hanging lazily over his knee, back straight, his cold eyes inspecting the woman before him. Sesshomaru beckoned her closer until she sat right before him, her folded hands almost meeting the edge of his feet. Not saying anything, he cupped Rin's face in his hands and felt the tempo of her pulse rapidly quicken. Taking his sleeve, he wiped away her exaggerated makeup part by part.

"Lord..." Rin whispered as she saw her powder and blush coming off on her Lord's dark sleeve.

"You should know that I don't want certain things hidden from my view." he then reached for the pins and barrets in her hair that held it up in a most ridiculous (to him, at least) fashion and watched her raven hair cascade down her shoulders and past her waist. "Including your beautiful self."

"My Lord?" Rin inquired, and she looked up at his eyes and met two glowing moonlike irises sparkling like stars.

She inhaled deeply as Sesshomaru pulled her closer so that she was sitting on his lap. He brushed her hair back and tilted her chin with a delicately clawed, slim finger. She shuddered under his magical touch and he longed for what else he was able to do upon her pure body. Mustering up courage, Rin straddled his sitting waist and leant in for one tiny unselfish kiss. Sesshomaru lazily closed his eyes and allowed her to have her way, returning her favour but not delving in deeper. She wrapped her arms around his neck and curled her fingers, grasping handfuls of his silky locks. He let his hand find its place around her waist and pulled her closer. After what seemed like many suns and moons, they broke the kiss and found their breathing ragged and raw.

"My Lord..." Rin located her inner beast and lunged at him fiercly for another round, but something inside Sesshomaru went cold and he held her firmly back. He saw the girl's face fall into a concerned expression, and that was when he realized. She was not a woman to him. She was a girl. He saw it in her eyes, her face, her features, her childlike laugh and gestures that Rin was a girl...and even if she was a woman, he would never feel comfortable in taking a girl that he raised as his own mate. His wife. His Lady. No, Rin would always be a girl to him.

"Rin, we should stop."

"But..." Rin felt a stab at her heart puncture her, and her stomach sank to its depths. Soon her eyes filled with tears and with liquid glazed eyes, she managed to ask him "...why?"

"Rin. Do you love me?"

"Of couse I do, Lord Sesshomaru!" she cried out, grabbing the fabric of his shirt. "I've pined for your love for years, yearning the day you would return my feelings...my Lord, do you love me?"

"...Rin." he whispered into her ear. "I cannot love you."

She gasped as the tears rolled down her pale cheeks, and Sesshomaru pulled her tightly into an embrace. "When you gave me my strength and I gave you your life ten years ago, I had no idea that it would come to this. I raised you as the child I never wanted to have, that I had no desire to have. And you changed me." He paused as the girl quieted down her sniffling and sobbing, and continued. "You turned my head at every living thing, and made it seem more worthy of a demon's gaze than it was truly meant to be. Bringing out the most in everything, you changed how I looked at things. Then...in the past few years, when you grew from girl to woman...you changed my view of you."

"Then why cannot we...? I love you, Lord Sesshomaru! With all my heart!"

Sesshomaru wiped her tears away with his clean sleeve and continued to console her with his single, strong arm. "My father...my late father...he once asked me whether I had someone to protect. Someone to love. And at the time when I was young, vigorous and feisty, I replied that I had no one." at this point their eyes met again, golden yellow to deep brown; "And now I have you. I have you to protect and love. But I can never love you the way...that you love...me. I'm sorry.

So Rin...can you love me? Could you love me?"

Rin weeped silently at his words as they melted her inner walls. She cried of relief, sadness, of joy and grief all in one; relief and joy that he had made her know his feelings of her, and sadness and grief in the interior thought that she would never be able to make him love her the way he did with her. But even amid the deep rumbling of the numerous thoughts that ate away at her, Rin still had an inquiry to ask after she yawned out of exhaustion from crying.

"Lord Sesshomaru..."

"Yes, Rin?"

"Even if...after I die...and go on to the next world much earlier than you, will you...remember me?"

"...speak no nonsense, girl." Sesshomaru looked down at her. "I have already answered this question before."

Rin laughed quietly. "My Lord's memory is quite an awesome thing...to rememeber something that insignificant...from many years ago."

"..."

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin asked and yawned, her head resting on his chest. Sesshomaru stroked her hair to indicate he was listening. "Will you sing...me the song?"

"What song, young one?"

"The one...that you would sing for me...during the night while I slept."

Sesshomaru smiled, his eyes half closed as well. "You have very acute hearing, Rin."

"I get that from you." Rin joked, and the two laughed, almost whispering, for a short moment before Rin shut her fatigued eyes and allowed Sesshomaru to work his voice of magic on her ears. He leaned against the wall, his legs folded to support the girl's weight with one hand still stroking her hair. Sesshomaru felt his claws graze her scalp lazily, and his mind wandered for awhile until he found the right lyrics. He started to sing with the rain as the bass and as the winds carried his voice into the garden where Jaken and Otaku still stood in the pouring rain.

_**'Let the buds of spring arise from the surface of the bark,'**_

"So do you think our Lord has made his decision?" Jaken asked Otaku, leaning forward on his staff of heads.

_**'Hear the young cicada sing its early song,'**_

Otaku brushed his damp hair back that clung to his neck like that of leeches, and smiled as the rain kept falling from the sky. "I suppose. We will never know."

_**'Leaves of yellow, leaves of brown scattering the earth,'**_

"I am glad...to an extent, that we allowed the young Lord to make his own decision." Jaken piped up, smiling up at the sky.

_**'Then the falling snow bless the winter season long,'**_

Otaku followed suit and studied the stars that still shone amid the curtains of rain, graced with the moonlight. He breathed in the earthy scent of fresh summer rain. "Surprisingly..." he said, "...so am I."

_**'The seasons change, but your tenshi says,'**_

Sesshomaru lovingly gazed down at the near-sleeping girl and looked outside at the rain, studying the two figures who stood in the torrent of water unmoving. He felt Rin move in his touch, but never ceased singing.

**_'You will be with me...'_**

"Lord Sesshomaru..." Rin whispered, her eyes fully closed.

_**'Forever, and always...'**_

"I love you..." The Lord of the Western Lands eyed the sleeping girl with a bittersweet smile on his face.

**"...and never."**

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

**tenshi; angel**

**Otaku; An OC that I made up. I started out drawing Iruvaani from 'Sora wa akai Kawa no hitori,' but I totally messed up his clothes...so I renamed him Otaku for use of a fanfiction. I never thought I'd have used his for THIS one. (OO) As a steward! (OO) I still tried to keep him in the personality and image of Iruvaani, and very strangely it fit along perfectly with this one-shot. **

**Anyhow...after reading this it gave me the chillies. Especially that last line I decided to add in. So if you're reading this, thanks for reading my really really really really long one-shot of Sesshomaru and Rin. I don't think anyone else's done something like this so I hope this can be a new archive for Feedback is good, but I don't think I'll be making a sequel for this one. It's just one of those endings with a bittersweet twist. And by the way, I won't accept flames for this story in particular. You can flame all my other ones, but not this one. If you have complaints about how I made the story end, then go read something else. It's that simple, thank you. **

**And to the people waiting for an update for 'Hiphop through life,' if you're wondering why I didn't update in such a long time, it's because I was working on this one. **

**Have a nice day. **

**willowdrop**


End file.
